Don't buy this binder

[jamesdoran]

Warning: rant ahead:

So, recently I read about this binder online:

http://www.lesloveboat.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=122

I have several friends who bought one and said that they loved it, that it binds better and is more comfortable than anything from Underworks.

I ordered one of their binders Friday, July 23 with expedited shipping. The estimated arrival for this was 3-5 days (ships internationally). The shipping cost was $24.
As of one week later, August 1, the website showed that my order was still "in queue" for processing and had not yet been shipped...so I emailed them. I will admit that I was a little bit less than polite, but I was frustrated that I paid almost $30 to have it get here quickly and they hadn't even shipped yet. I asked them to refund the price of the extra shipping. I didn't ask for anything for free, just wanted my money back for the extra cost.

Two days later, they still had not emailed me back. I emailed them again and told them that due to the fact that they hadn't shipped, and had not replied to my email, I would not be purchasing anything else from them and that I was very disappointed. I also wrote a 1 star review on their site describing my experience.

Then today, I get this:

Thanks for shopping with us. We had a notice on the home page regarding us
being away from the office. Additionally, your comments about the item does
not represent the product itself so has been removed. At this moment, the
orders are being shipped based on the time of purchase, so if you insist on
cancelling the order, we'd be happy to cancel the order for you.

Sincerely,
Love Boat

First of all, if there was a notice on the site, it wasn't in plain sight at all...I know this because I have been on their site every day since I ordered, checking the status. I went back and looked again today and still didn't see it.

They removed my negative review! I understand that it wasn't specifically concerning the product but it does seem pretty ->-bleeped-<-ty that they took the review down, which might have prevented other people from having the same thing happen. Just makes me wonder how many other reviews similar to mine they've taken down.

They said nothing about being willing to refund the extra cost of shipping, and even said they'd be happy to cancel my order....like, is it just me, or is this terrible service?

[Nygeel]

I think the notice was in plain sight.

http://www.lesloveboat.com/shop/index.php

Edit to add: I think canceling the order means refund.

[jamesdoran]

Yeah, I do see that...but that wasn't the page I viewed. I mean I get that it's on the main page, but I was sent the link directly and ordered from there. I never viewed the main page. I just don't think I should be held responsible for navigating through the whole site to make sure that the company isn't away?

Also, I get that I'll get a refund if I cancel the order. I don't want a full refund now. Just the extra money I paid for expedited shipping.

I think it would have been good for them to have a notice on the order page. Or even just disable the faster shipping option since they couldn't do it while they were gone.

[devention]

I agree that they should've had a header about it and disabled the expedited shipping. It seems somewhat disingenuous to say it only on the main page when one might have a link directly to a product and not even bother with the main page, especially when the expedited shipping was allegedly still available.
I'd reiterate that you just want the extra you paid for the expedited shipping back and suggest to them that next time they should disable the option if they're away and can't fulfill it.

[aleon515]

I really think you should NOT use expedited shipping from a shipper in a different country (okay for adjacent countries-- like US and Canada). Too many problems. I also have had problems related to getting messages. I think they have to look for someone to translate them. They seem to have fair customer service except that you can't necessarily assume they will get a given message on time.


--Jay

[Kreuzfidel]

Warning: rant ahead:

So, recently I read about this binder online:

http://www.lesloveboat.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=122

I have several friends who bought one and said that they loved it, that it binds better and is more comfortable than anything from Underworks.

I ordered one of their binders Friday, July 23 with expedited shipping. The estimated arrival for this was 3-5 days (ships internationally). The shipping cost was $24.
As of one week later, August 1, the website showed that my order was still "in queue" for processing and had not yet been shipped...so I emailed them. I will admit that I was a little bit less than polite, but I was frustrated that I paid almost $30 to have it get here quickly and they hadn't even shipped yet. I asked them to refund the price of the extra shipping. I didn't ask for anything for free, just wanted my money back for the extra cost.

Two days later, they still had not emailed me back. I emailed them again and told them that due to the fact that they hadn't shipped, and had not replied to my email, I would not be purchasing anything else from them and that I was very disappointed. I also wrote a 1 star review on their site describing my experience.

Then today, I get this:

Thanks for shopping with us. We had a notice on the home page regarding us
being away from the office. Additionally, your comments about the item does
not represent the product itself so has been removed. At this moment, the
orders are being shipped based on the time of purchase, so if you insist on
cancelling the order, we'd be happy to cancel the order for you.

Sincerely,
Love Boat

First of all, if there was a notice on the site, it wasn't in plain sight at all...I know this because I have been on their site every day since I ordered, checking the status. I went back and looked again today and still didn't see it.

They removed my negative review! I understand that it wasn't specifically concerning the product but it does seem pretty ->-bleeped-<-ty that they took the review down, which might have prevented other people from having the same thing happen. Just makes me wonder how many other reviews similar to mine they've taken down.

They said nothing about being willing to refund the extra cost of shipping, and even said they'd be happy to cancel my order....like, is it just me, or is this terrible service?

I can see why you were frustrated, but I don't think that it was terrible service. 

There's a fine line between the customer's responsibility to navigate the site properly and the company's responsibility to place "disclaimers" and notices on every single page.  If it were my business, I would have put a notice on the order page, too - but it doesn't mean "terrible service" - and from what you're describing, all of this took place in just over a week - so it seems a bit overkill to write a nasty review about it.

I agree with Jay in that expedited shipping from an overseas company isn't a good idea.  Even larger companies in places like the US or England would likely have issues getting it to you in "3 - 5 days" - so it just seems unrealistic. 

Either way, you should be entitled to a refund.

[jamesdoran]

Thanks, guys. Dysphoria just makes me mean -_-

[aleon515]

I think Underworks is a better choice. Looked at your other thread. Loveboat is kind of made for small Asian type frames. They worked nicely for me, but I was smaller.

Do think they are an okay company, but I don't know re: how well they are set up to deal with customer service situations with their English speaking (or other languages besides Chinese) clientele. I had one situation where I tried to add to my order after I had made it. I got an email two weeks later, saying they were sorry they had mailed the order. I feel they didn't perhaps have anybody to translate my message and then wen't found somebody and then got back to me. I know a lot of Chinese speak English but don't know how well that might be, so translating an message where they need to really understand it and respond correctly that's harder. The English on the site is somewhat awkward so it's possible this is the case. My assumption anyway.

I would ask for a refund for the expedited shipping and just hang on for them to get back to you. Being polite, even understanding, helps get what you want.

--Jay

[Pandion]

Hey,

I ordered a binder from LoveBoat on the 27th of June with Express Shipping and it arrived yesterday! So although I finally have my binder, I completely understand your frustration.

6 days after ordering my order was still reading as "in queue" so I contacted them so ask as politely as possible why they hadn't posted it yet. It turned out they had posted it 3 days before, they just hadn't updated the shipping information. That was only the first frustrating bit! I have spent the last month sending them emails asking them to find out where the parcel had gone as I was unable to get any details from the postal service here (in the UK) and asking for a refund on my express shipping cost. Every email I sent them I waited anything from 4 painful days to over a week before they got back to me. At times I was very frustrated and my emails ranged from polite to angry and demanding. I have mentioned the express shipping refund about 5 times now and every time they respond to my emails ignoring my refund request so my battle in that department continues!

On the plus side, the binder is pretty good.

The only advice I can give is just try not to think about it, it will get to you in time but be prepared to fight for the express shipping back, they shouldn't be charging people for an express delivery service if they can't follow through, that's not just bad customer service, it blatantly ripping people off and although I have no problem with the company in general, I don't think that is right.

Just don't expect anything to happen fast.

[aleon515]

It didn't take a month, but shipping was not fast. I got something from Cypress faster. I ordered something from Israel years ago, which took a long time and cost a lot.

--Jay

[Kiwi]

I never recommend to pay more for the expedited/express shipping if you live in Europe and the company is based in USA or Asia.

My friend and I ordered 2 binders from Underworks the same day, more or less same hour. I chose the cheaper international shipment 19$, he chose the more expensive one called express or something like that. The binders got shipped the same day and they arrived 3 days later in both cases.

If you are in a rush for binders Underworks is great.

[jamesdoran]

Thanks guys. I actually ordered from underworks a couple of days ago so I will at least have one soon. I am just kinda bummed about this experience I guess because I heard the ones from loveboat are way more comfortable. And I know a friend with a large chest like me who was really happy with hers (she just uses it for cosplay, but it still gets her pretty damn flat). I emailed them back after I posted on this thread and haven't heard back yet. I'm trying to be patient but it is $80 we're talking about. So I guess if I don't hear back soon I will be working with my bank to get the charges reversed. Which is not something I want to do at all...I can just imagine the anxiety now.

[jamesdoran]

And to all of you who said I shouldn't use expedited shipping internationally...I definitely won't be doing it again!

[Whynaut]

I didn't have to deal with their customer service but I will agree that their shipping was slow.

Though my Loveboat binder is 110% more comfortable than my Underworks binder and my chest is not small. It doesn't get me as flat but it's fine to wear during the cooler months when I have more layers on.

[aleon515]

I didn't have to deal with their customer service but I will agree that their shipping was slow.

Though my Loveboat binder is 110% more comfortable than my Underworks binder and my chest is not small. It doesn't get me as flat but it's fine to wear during the cooler months when I have more layers on.

I believe it is quite a comfortable binder, as binders go (not sure the model listed, never used that one). But slow shipping, and well they will get to you, but it won't be fast. I think it is related to English translation though, not to inherently bad customer service.

--Jay

[jamesdoran]

Well they finally emailed me back. I told them (politely, I promise) that if they weren't willing to refund the extra cost of shipping, I wanted to cancel my order like they offered. Several days after this email, they sent me a notice that they had shipped my package. They said nothing about a refund of the extra cost.

So, I messaged them once again and asked if they were planning on refunded the $14 and they said no, that I should have visited their main page before ordering.

I'm not super happy about it but I'm sucking it up and didn't email them back. I don't feel like there's a point. But it's super irritating that they ignored my request to cancel my order. I just won't be ordering anything else from them.

[Ms Grace]

That's pretty crummy though, charging for a service they didn't provide.

[jamesdoran]

The way they explained it is that it's all USPS after they submit the order. But that makes no sense to me, when they are the ones who didn't get the order out to ship until 2 weeks later...but yeah it is pretty crummy.